/*
 * Copyright 2006 Google Inc.
 * 
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not
 * use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of
 * the License at
 * 
 * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 * 
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
 * WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
 * License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under
 * the License.
 */
      
package com.google.gwt.user.client.rpc;

/**
 * Interface for controlling how objects are decoded from a serialization stream.
 * 
 * @skip
 */
public interface SerializationStreamObjectDecoder {
  /**
   * Get the string table associated with this decoder.
   * 
   * @return
   */
  StringTable getStringTable();
  
  /**
   * Get's the binary name of the next instance in the serialization stream.  
   */
  String nextInstance(SerializationStreamReader stream);
  
  /**
   * See if the next method in the stream is a previously seen method.  If it
   * is then we return it.  If not we return null.
   */
  Object prevInstance(SerializationStreamReader stream);
  
  /**
   * Save this instance in case it is ferenced later on in the stream.
   *  
   * @param instance - object that we want to be able to recall via prevInstance.
   */
  void rememberDecodedObject(Object instance);
}
